Founded in 1696, St. John's College is the third oldest college in America and one of the most distinctive. The College's renowned Great Books Program is a rigorous, all-required interdisciplinary curriculum through which students examine 3000 years of human thought and innovation across literature, math, science, philosophy, music and more. By engaging directly with some of history's most influential writers and thinkers, students discover how our modern world came to be – and where it might be going. St. John's offers a highly distinctive alternative to the increasingly fractured approach to higher education in America today.
Through the Partnership, select high schools in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah will gain access to a variety of trainings, visits, and scholarship opportunities at St. John's College that encourage liberal arts education for students, teachers, and college counselors.
"The Southwest is a culturally-rich region, but it offers few colleges at which students can experience the depth and breadth of liberal arts learning. And among that small group, there is only one St. John's College," said St. John's College President Mark Roosevelt. "Through The Southwest Scholars Partnership we are able to introduce schools to our academic program, which develops students who read and listen deeply, think and speak precisely, and explore fearlessly any mathematical problem, scientific theory, or philosophical question proposed. These skills are increasingly rare in America's hyper-vocational landscape, positioning Johnnies to lead rather than follow. The Partnership also makes St. John's more accessible and affordable for students and families here in the Southwest."
The Southwest Scholars Partnership
One student from each participating high school will receive a $5,000 annual undergraduate scholarship for four years to attend St. John's College in Santa Fe, while one high school junior per year will receive a full-tuition scholarship to the College's Summer Academy in Santa Fe. In 2019 St. John's College reduced its annual undergraduate tuition to $35,000 and offers an additional $10,000 annual grant to New Mexico residents, making it one of the most affordable top-tier private liberal arts colleges in the country. The Southwest Scholars Partnership will further reduce annual tuition for undergraduate students. Other benefits of the Partnership include travel grants up to $500 for interested students to visit the campus overnight, and an annual St. John's College book award for a junior nominated by the high school.
Teachers at participating schools will have the opportunity to participate in discussion-based seminars and teacher trainings led by St. John's faculty members, and one teacher per year will receive a half-tuition scholarship to complete the St. John's College Graduate Institute Master of Liberal Arts degree over four summers. There will also be the option for one teacher or college counselor per year to spend a week at the Summer Classics program in Santa Fe.
The inaugural schools selected for the program include:
- Arizona: Arete Preparatory Academy (Gilbert)
- Colorado: Thomas MacLaren School (Colorado Springs), Colorado Academy (Denver), Caprock Academy (Grand Junction), Cherry Creek High School (Greenwood Village), and Loveland Classical School (Loveland)
- New Mexico: Bosque School, Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School, and Menaul School (Albuquerque), East Mountain High School (Sandia Park), and New Mexico School for the Arts and Santa Fe Preparatory School (Santa Fe)
- Texas: Liberal Arts & Science Academy (Austin), The Westwood School and Cambridge School of Dallas (Dallas), Awty International School (Houston), Cistercian Preparatory School (Irving), and Trinity School of Midland (Midland)
- Utah: Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant), Waterford School (Sandy), and Paradigm High School (South Jordan)
About St. John's College
St. John's College holds a distinctive position among American colleges and universities. Its strong commitment to collaborative inquiry and to the rigorous study of original texts by Western civilization's greatest writers, scientists, mathematicians, musicians and astronomers – from Homer, Plato, and Euclid to Einstein, Bach, and Woolf – makes St. John's College a unique, vibrant community of learning. Here, students are courageous in asking hard questions of themselves and their world; reject charged rhetoric and embrace civil but probing dialogue; and dare to free their minds through brave engagement with diverse ideas, mathematical proofs, and challenging texts. These qualities produce leaders in fields as diverse as winemaking, law, neuroscience, entrepreneurism, medicine, artificial intelligence, finance, and academia, where 'Johnnies' are known for their self-directed ability to delve deeply and fearlessly into unknown territory, often leading to unexpected and innovative approaches to vexing problems.
Located on two campuses in two historic state capitals – Santa Fe, New Mexico and Annapolis, Maryland – St. John's boasts being the third oldest college in America; is ranked the fifth best classroom experience in the nation (2020 Princeton Review); is in the top four percent of all colleges and universities in the nation whose graduates go on to earn PhDs in science and engineering; and has been hailed for being the "most future-proof college in America" by Quartz, the "most rigorous college in America" by Forbes, and "the most contrarian college in America" by The New York Times.
St. John's College offers BA and MA degrees in the liberal arts on both campuses; the Santa Fe campus also offers an MA in the Eastern Classics. More info at www.sjc.edu.
SOURCE St. John's College
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